Digital News: How Do YOU View It?

The interesting thing about this project was that I am quite comfortable with interviewing, although I have never had to record my own interview. In high school, I was a part of the Business and Arts and Performing departments. Within those departments, both required me to do a lot of speeches, interviews in our school’s media room, and speaking in school wide topics. The odd thing about this project was not having myself included in the interview, and deleting my voice out of the questionnaire. While filming, using the horizontal method was quite comfortable, and I recognized how much better I got at keeping my hands from shaking and staying steady.

While editing my videos, I found a lot of trial and error to work on. I realized some videos were taken further than others, making the editing process a bit harder. Even though all videos were recorded horizontally, while editing, some of them look vertical. I decided to look into buying a tripod stand for my iPhone and working on spacing. I also realized that some videos were quiet and others had relatively more background noise. I realize my strengths in shooting lie in more action videos; movement, scenery, nature, dancing, singing, etc. It was eye-opening to see how much more I have to work on when it comes to video skills, especially when I was mostly working on photography and editing skills.

In our Mojo Skillset, Digital News Report found a lot of facts. One page was describing the rivalry between Apple and Android phones. Generally, it was saying there is a preference for Apple phones. In my videos I realized that the younger generation was more into Apple, and the older non-journalist generation was more comfortable with Android, finding it to be easier to use. I also agree with the Daily News Report on their finding of “62% of users getting their new via smartphones”. All of my interviewers said they looked to the news for weather and traffic, but specifically said that as well in their description of smartphone apps. They stay up to current events from apps and social media outlets. Social media plays a big role in what news we take seriously, and what news we brush off. Essentially, the influence from our phones shapes us.

Majority of my interviews took place at work, with one taking place at school. All of my co-workers try to keep a more professional persona. Although, you can tell which co-worker was more comfortable and relaxed with me, compared to the co-workers who engage in passing. Based on age, generally the younger they are the more they use apps for personal compared to the older they are, using smartphone apps for work. All the women I interviewed preferred the light news, and using it for traffic and weather. The man that I interviewed was the only one who preferred the shade type of news. Really looking to see what crime was going on, and other darker toned stories.

Overall, the varying answers from each interview gave me the impression that even with the age difference, it also depends on the persons acceptance of the newer technology. There are some people who are still stuck in their old ways, and then there are people who are innovators. That also plays a big part when it comes to smartphone usage, regardless of age. I was quite excited to hear the responses, and immediately compared and contrasted the interview results. I'd like to try this again with a bigger pool of interviews, and one broad question.